Luke Cooper ‘frustrated’ despite Combe title win

Luke Cooper admitted he was delighted to win the Castle Combe FF1600 Championship in association with Melksham Motor Spares but also ‘frustrated’ in the way he secured the title.

Cooper had won six out of six CCRC FF1600 races in the season leading up to round seven and was running second in the seventh race of the season.

His engine blew up as he went through Camp corner on lap nine of the 10-lap race, forcing the Chippenham-based driver to retire from the race.

However, it was enough to secure the title as Wiltshire College Motorsport’s David Vivian did not secure enough points to keep the title fight alive.

“It’s great to win the championship but really frustrating and expensive as well,” Cooper told FF1600website.

“It was a great race. It was a typical Formula Ford race with action all the way through, changing places every other race pretty much. [I was] In a great position starting the last lap to try and get the win.”

Josh Fisher claimed the win in round seven, becoming the first driver other than Cooper to win a race this season.

Cooper will miss round eight of the championship with his next event scheduled to be the BRSCC Avon Tyres National FF1600 round at Croft in early September.

“Next event is at Croft in September,” Cooper added. “We’ll have to see if we can get another engine for that. I don’t think there’s much left of that engine to be rebuilt.”